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Steampunk R2-D2

Introduction: Steampunk R2-D2

This is actually more of an inspiratiable, rather than an instructable. I didn't take notes while building this, or in-progress photos. Basically, I wanted to build a steampunk R2-D2 for my son when he was eight. I scavenged parts from the shed, some dumpsters, and ye olde thrift shoppe. Even if I had an itemized list of everything I used, it would be next to impossible to go out and intentionally find the same stuff. Part of the fun, I think, is getting into that mindset where you wind up spotting random things here and there and just KNOWING you'll find some use for them. Hopefully this will inspire someone to repurpose some junk and make a kid smile.

Step 1: Plan Your Project in Excruciating Detail

As you can see, I spent a lot of time in class sketching out how I would make the perfect steampunk R2. Pretty much NONE of this worked out. It did, however, get me in the right frame of mind. As I walked down alleys or through junk shops, I would spot stuff that I figured would fit in somewhere.

Step 2: Get Some Parts

This is a coffee urn ... I think. I got it at Goodwill, busted, and used it for R2's torso. I also got a bunch of other stuff, which I'll describe below

Step 3: Start Bolting

In this image, you can see that the legs are made out of an Ikea wine rack and some Ikea curtain rod hangers. All this stuff came from Savers and Goodwill. There's an Ikea in town here so we end up with a lot of their stuff in the thrift shops eventually. R2's feet are kitchen sink drains. Also note the various brass doodads bolted here and there for "flavor."

Step 4: El Cabeza De Robot

The front half of R2's head is a rustic planter. The diameter -- or diametric arc, anyway -- roughly matched the diameter of the robo-body. This is one of those things I spotted in a thrift shop and immediately KNEW it was going to be part of R2's head. You can also see here where I incorporated part of an old belt to hold back the planter's decorative ring.

I've also included a shot of the back of R2's little dome. The black dungeon-looking cage was a candle holder, I think. I bolted it onto the back of the planter and eventually filled it with opalescent glass smooshed-marble things like people put in flower vases. You can see also an aluminum pipe socket that I screwed on. This fit a cheapo LED flashlight, which I aimed at the marble-filled cage. When the flashlight was turned on, via it's end cap button, the light shined through the marbles and gave off a cool aura.

Step 5: Make It Look Like It Knows What It's Doing

Then I just kept bolting stuff on to make it look busy. You can see here a broken clock, some flex-hose, a leather-wrapped bottle (???), and various fittings and flanges. In the final picture, you can see where I crammed a La Bomba juice bottle into a tea candle suspension frame and clamped that inside one leg. Aaaaaaand we're done.